Russian officials last night expressed ‘outrage’ at Estonia’s treatment of its large ethnic Russian minority.

It’s a familiar move: The Kremlin defended its seizing of the Crimean peninsula from Ukraine a month ago with the pretext it has the right to protect Russian-speakers outside its borders.

It’s by no means the first time this excuse has been heard.

Nearly 80 years ago, Germany began its annexation of nearby states with the widely broadcast notion of protecting marginalised German-language speakers.
Russia is now adopting the same line towards ex-members of the Soviet Union.

A Moscow diplomat told a United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva last night that the language policy in the Baltic state of Estonia was comparable to what had caused it to move on Crimea — a move to prevent the use of the Russian tongue.

More at the link. While Ukraine was not a member, Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia, the Baltic states, are members of NATO. In June of 1940, the USSR invaded the the Baltic states, quickly conquered them, and put in place puppet governments, all of which “requested” entry into the Soviet Union. The USSR annexed all of those nations, including the Scheschupe area of Lithuania, which, under the secret protocols of the Nazi-Soviet Non-Aggression Pact was supposed to be given to the Third Reich. In early 1941, the USSR and Nazi Germany agreed on that, with the USSR paying Germany ℛℳ31.5 million.

The Parties agree that an armed attack against one or more of them in Europe or North America shall be considered an attack against them all and consequently they agree that, if such an armed attack occurs, each of them, in exercise of the right of individual or collective self-defence recognised by Article 51 of the Charter of the United Nations, will assist the Party or Parties so attacked by taking forthwith, individually and in concert with the other Parties, such action as it deems necessary, including the use of armed force, to restore and maintain the security of the North Atlantic area.

Any such armed attack and all measures taken as a result thereof shall immediately be reported to the Security Council. Such measures shall be terminated when the Security Council has taken the measures necessary to restore and maintain international peace and security.

Put simply, if Russia invades Estonia, to “protect” the Russophones there, under the North Atlantic Treaty, Russia would have invaded all 28 NATO nations. What would the oh-so-brave Army Specialist pictured above — hiding his face and having removed his name tag from his uniform for the picture, but who has been deployed with the 101st Airborne at some point — say, as part of an Army required, by law and by treaty, about coming to the defense of Estonia? Under the NATO treaty, that would be our business and would be our fight.

Of course, it wouldn’t be that soldier’s decision, would it? It would be the decision of the President of the United States, Barack Hussein Obama, and President Putin has tested the mettle of our President, and found him wanting. Everyone reading this article knows that, despite the obligations of the NATO treaty, if Mr Putin sent Сухопутные войска Российской Федерации, the Ground Forces of the Russian Federation, rolling into Estonia, our Commander-in-Chief would issue a strongly worded condemnation of that, issue a few more sanctions against the Russian economy, have Ambassador Samantha Power angrily bring up that horrid invasion before the United Nations Security Council, perhaps cancel a round of golf for serious meetings, and that’s just about it.

And Vladimir Putin knows it. If he likes Estonia, he can take Estonia. Let’s face it, we aren’t about to risk a war with Russia, with its huge armies and nuclear weapons, over Estonia, or Latvia, or Lithuania, or Germany or the United Kingdom.

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